The wind was blowing 15 mph. Five to 6 foot waves were crashing on the beach. Clouds filled the skies, whipping by. Such were the conditions for Friday and Saturday of the Ironman 70.3 Steelhead triathlon. Thankfully, the race itself was on Sunday. Saturday night the wind calmed down, waves diminished to 1-2 feet and the skies cleared! What a relief as I walked into the transition area and set up my gear at 5:45 a.m.

My bike was checked in and my numbers were written on my arm and leg the day before. Now I set up water bottles, sports drinks, energy blocks, energy Gu’s, bananas, towels, bike shoes, running shoes, wetsuit, swim cap, swim goggles, jersey, helmet, sun glasses, sunscreen, athlete number, gear pouches and…I think that was it. All organized and ready to race!

We were kicked out of the transition area 15 minutes before the race start time of 7:00 a.m. Everyone gathered on the beach as the countdown to the swim start began. Music was bumping and the announcer was getting more animated as the time neared. Finally the race started and I…I…stood there for anther 50 minutes before I ran through the gate and into the water. Talk about a little anti-climactic. The races always start with the professionals being sent off first. Everyone else is sent off in a “rolling start.” Athletes assemble in groups according to their expected time needed to complete the swim course.

A challenging 54 minutes after I entered Lake Michigan, I was running up the beach to the transition area. The swim was pretty good. I was hoping for a time under 60 minutes and it was! My swim coach prepared me very well and I couldn’t have done it without her help. The only thing I wasn’t used to was bumping into people while swimming. Swimming through hundreds of people is hard to simulate! My time in transition wasn’t fast, but it was pretty smooth. I took time to make sure I didn’t forget anything and was well hydrated.

After walking my bike through the transition area, I hopped on and started mile 1 of 56. My race plan for my bike was pretty simple: eat an energy bar and banana at the start, energy blocks every 10 miles, an energy bar every 15 miles, and drink fluids every 5 miles or if I get thirsty. The course was basically pretty smooth with rolling hills. My bike worked great with no flats or break-downs. It was a wonderful donation by some great friends and was an amazing step up from my 1973 steel frame road bike! I finished the bike course in just over 3 hours. I felt great except for some slight pain at the side of my knee.

In transition 2, I hung my bike, changed my shoes, refueled, drank some cold sports drink, put on my race number and headed out for the final 13.1 miles of fun! The first few miles were rough as 3/4 mile in they started us off with a nice big hill which was not much fun. The run was definitely an experience. First my thighs were burning. Next my IT bands were in pain. Finally it was a realization that the pains were not getting any worse. After that I actually sped up my pace and ran pretty well for the event I was doing. At each aid station along the route, I would grab both water and Gatorade, both to drink and an extra water to dump on my head. Between aid stations, I would eat/slurp an energy Gu. My favorite part of the run was the mile marker 11. It meant I was still running and almost done!

The last 1/2 mile of the race was a blur, but the finish was awesome. Fans, friends and family were waiting at the finish line cheering, waving and taking pictures. My name was announced and I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face! Weirdly enough I didn’t want to stop. It actually felt better to keep walking around than it did to stand or sit.

After 6 hours 13 minutes and 39 seconds of going and going, I had accomplished 2 goals: completing an Ironman 70.3 triathlon and feeding hundreds of people for a year.

It has taken my efforts and your efforts together to do this. Your donations, encouragement and prayers have made this all possible. Together we raised over $9,000 with which we will be able to send up to 190,000 meals to people around the world. Amazing! That will feed almost 260 people two meals a day for an entire year.

And, so I say a huge “Thank you!” to everyone who helped make this event a success!

[Race photos by FinisherPix.]

This week is race week! What an exciting time to be a part of the Ironman event. During race week, everyone begins to taper their training. You don’t want to be doing 50-mile rides or 11-mile runs a few days before you attempt to swim, bike and run a total of 70.3 miles. Going into the event with sore muscles is not the vision! Every racer wants to be rested before their test. Kind of like school where cramming doesn’t work too well. Add some extra carbs this week along with rest and you should be primed to have a good race.

My race plan is set for all three aspects of the triathlon and back-up plans are being explored. My tires and tubes are checked. Gear is finding it’s way into my race bag. Nutrition (a.k.a. fuel) is being prepped. I am watching the ever-changing forecast with great interest and lake conditions are checked every day.

In the midst of all this prepping and planning, butterflies make a brief appearance before flying off. No, they are not checking the flowers in my landscape, but checking my stomach to make sure it will handle them on race day. A couple people asked me the same question this week: “Are you nervous?” I gave them the same answer: “I was up until a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I only feel excited!” Why the difference? Preparation. I didn’t feel prepared until that point. Now I feel and know that I am prepared.

As I put on the wet-suit and finish in running shoes on Sunday, please help this effort to finish strong. No matter my times in the water, on the bike or running to the finish, the important thing is to continue feeding more and more people who desperately need food in the U.S. and around the world. Please take a minute to make a donation that will make it possible for people to eat nutritious food.

Here are 2 ways to make that donation happen:

1) Click the button below and choose “#TRI2FEED Ironman Triathlon.”

Donate

2) Text your donation. Text the dollar amount you wish to give to 28950 and designate “ftnkids.” You’ll then be prompted to provide your credit card and contact information.

For the past couple of swim training sessions, I have been swimming in the waters of the “big lake,” Lake Michigan. Due to a thunderstorm at six in the morning on Monday, I jumped back in to the pool at my local YMCA. After a few laps of warm-ups and drills, I was gliding under the water and looking up when I realized that I was comfortable in this environment! It was still work and effort exerted, but I was finally comfortable doing it. Finally!

A lot of success in life can be attributed to feeling comfortable or reaching a certain comfort level. Our surroundings, opportunities, circumstances and situations may not promote comfort, but through practice, repetition, help and encouragement we still live at a relative level of comfort.

Whether we are helping street orphans, refugee families or kids in war zones, Feeding The Nations strives to help them all reach a level of comfort despite their surroundings or situations. We cannot take them out of war zones, make their crops grow in times of droughts or provide loving families to raise them. But we can reduce the likelihood of being faced with starvation or hunger in general. Once that is gone, they are much more able to face their challenges and be more comfortable doing it. We know our mission and it is to feed those who don’t have opportunities to feed themselves.

Will you join us in that mission? It will take only a few minutes of your time, but the impact will be lasting. We welcome any amount you give in support of helping hungry children around the world have a more comfortable existence. Every little bit matters when we work together!

Don’t let today go by without making a Kingdom impact in the lives of those who need it most, those whose definition of comfort looks a lot different than our own.

Simply click the button below to donate and choose “#TRI2FEED Ironman Triathlon.”

Donate

I am an eater. I go to bed excited for breakfast even if it is nothing more than a bowl of oatmeal. When I head to work, I know what I have packed for lunch and keep my eye on the clock to see how long it is until noon. Okay, just being honest, I usually don’t make it until noon. Depending on what work I am doing each day, I will have eaten a pb&j by 10:00 a.m. (If Jesus was around now, he would probably eat pb&j’s too. Just saying.)

Anyways, now that my training has ramped-up, so has my hunger. It comes back every hour or so. I have been blessed with a high metabolism and now it is in over-drive. I can finally see how and why Olympic athletes eat so much! Whether I am swimming 1200 meters in the pool, riding 20 miles on my bike, or running 7 or 8 miles, I know that I need to keep fueled up or I will run out of energy.

Now imagine our lives without being able to fuel up after a workout, or grab a bowl of oatmeal every morning, or even being limited to one meal a day or every couple of days. It is almost impossible to relate to if we have never been in that situation. The question of, “When can I eat?” has a whole new importance.

Feeding The Nations feeds thousands of children every day in schools and orphanages, which is making a huge impact. But we don’t want to stop there. Many of our partner schools send home a couple rice-meal packs with the children for the weekend. We don’t want the kids to wake up on Saturday mornings and ask, “When can I eat? Monday?” We want them to know that they do have something to eat. This does several things:

• It makes sure the kids have food every day.
• It impacts the parents.
• It lets the whole family know they are loved.

As I continue training through the month of July and into August, please consider how you can join me financially and prayerfully in letting people know that they are loved and not forgotten. Together we can let people around the world know that even though we will probably never meet in real life, we care about them and we don’t want them to have to ask with uncertainty, “When can I eat?”

Let’s answer that question together by providing food for those in need. Simply click the button below to donate and choose “#TRI2FEED Ironman Triathlon.”

Donate